I like to "holla"

So there is no doubt I get loud in my preaching. Usually I’m so revved up many people ask me how many cups of coffee I have had. In truth it was only one Grande from Starbucks ($1.96 thank you very much) that morning.

However, I’ve always struggled a bit to NOT preach in one speed…fast! One time someone described my preaching as “trying to drink from a fire hose.” Love it. Even though I do recognize the need for some rhythm and the use of different gears.

All that to say in the evaluations that we solicit from some of our Suncresters this week, one reviewer wrote this:

I thought Doug was going to go crazy the chairs on stage. However, I thought he seemed pretty comfortable and did a good job of balancing the chairs with moving around. Always a plus when Doug doesn’t yell.

Makes me laugh.

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N.T. Wright takes on Stephen Colbert

Last month I had the honor of teaching on Heaven at Suncrest. One of my favorite theologians (in general and in specific on Heaven) is N.T. Wright. Below is an interview on the Stephen Colbert show. Not the typical thing you would expect to see Wright on as The Colbert Report is a show on Comedy Central. What is so great about this clip though is Wright is so poised, whimsical and clear in the interview. He is everything I wish other Christians would be when they appear on radio or television. What happens to the contrary more times than not is that they make us appear boring, irrelevant or judgemental. Way to go N.T.!

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Filming in Chicago

Filmed some video for this week’s message today. It was a great experience, even though I’m pretty uncomfortable on camera and can’t quite make it into my “zone” when the camera is on. This is especially true when I’m on the street and people are passing by and staring.

We filmed outside of Harpo Studios because I am speaking on “What would Jesus say to Oprah Winfrey?” this coming Sunday. We fully expected to be chased off but was only asked what we were doing by security and then left alone. That is, until we ran into Joe who goes to Suncrest and works for Oprah! Great to see him in a different context other than church.

This video effort is a hybrid in concept of most of the videos we have done. This one more than others is intended to be a part of the message rather than stand alone from the message. In fact, I teach through the first point of my message on camera. (We did something similiar in the Catalyst series with Greg on video and me in person.) I wanted to try it this week as I have been really intrigued by others doing this. Lifechurch.tv has really made an artform out of live with video teaching. We’ll see how it goes this Sunday.

Thanks to Kevin for doing all the hard work of videoing and editing.

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The heart of the matter

I’m sitting at Midway on my way to Boston for a couple days I am meeting Greg out there to sit in with the management team of Reunion Christian Church, of Boston. What a great church.

The band did a great job this morning. Rick, Joe and the gang brought a definite energy to the stage…even that one guy who looked suspiciously older than college age. During their rendition of “Heart of the Matter” I thought some were going to pull out their cell phones and wave.

As with a lot of things in life, this forgiveness business can be messy. It doesn’t always provide an immediate feeling of happiness, but it is the entry point for God to heal. One thing I wish I would have had time to talk about was an incident that happened to me several years ago. For me it illustrates the messiness of forgiveness. Without going into all the details a friend got so mad at me he ended our friendship. To this day I (and other close friends) don’t see why he chose to react so harshly. It hurt me deeply and I spent a lot of time praying about it and meeting with him trying to iron out what went wrong. I apologized for what I did wrong and prayed with him on more than one occasion. None of that seemed to make a difference in the end. What I finally realized was that he simply did not want to forgive me and there was nothing I could do to make things better. For awhile I held on to the hurt, but eventually I realized I needed to forgive him even though he wouldn’t accept it. It wasn’t a one time forgiveness, it was a season of choosing to forgive him and refuse to play the tapes of our conversations. All that to say it was worth it. No, I don’t have a friendship with this person, but I do have peace that I have done all I can to reconcile with him.

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Rich Young Ruler-Message Reflection #1

I have received some positive feedback from Sunday’s message. I appreciate every comment. I would love to interact a bit this week on how Jesus’ encounter with the Rich Young Ruler affects our life. You can read about it in Mark 10:17-30, Matthew 19:16-26 or Luke 18:18-27.

Here’s what I am asking:

• Do you feel compelled to do anything in response to this passage?
• What are you doing?
• If you were with us on Sunday, were you able to identify your “one thing?”

In the message, what I tried to do was lay out the fact that each of us has at least one thing that stands in the way of making Jesus our one thing. Not totally due to preparing for this passage, but in part, my family is making some changes in the financial arena to make sure we choosing Jesus over stuff.

What about you? I have heard from many of you that you have read but never commented. Here’s your chance. I would love to hear from you.

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Stickin’ it to the man

Jesus was always getting in trouble with the Religious leaders of his day. Rather ironic since he was God in flesh…but of course, they didn’t believe that. We can read about one particular incident in Mark 2 where Jesus and His crew were walking through a grain field. They were hungry so they picked some of the heads off of the grain and ate it. Some Religious leaders witnessed the event and accused them of breaking the law.

Imagine…it is against their law, their religious law, to pick grain on the Sabbath. That particular law came as a result of some interpretation of other scriptures. Teaching upon teaching over the centuries became the basis to add to the law to create what some Rabbi’s called a “hedge” around the law. The hedge or margin was there to keep you as far away as possible from breaking the law. In this case, the 4th commandment was being protected.

Jesus points out to them though that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27). Thus, humans could do what was appropriate on the Sabbath without fear of breaking the 4th commandment. The commandment was meant to give life, not restrict it.

Jesus was, in his own way, stickin’ it to the man. “The Man” being the religious leaders who totally missed seeing God. Ironic, sense the Sabbath was a means to provide greater clarity in seeing God.

Not at all an expert on this subject or practice of it, but here are some things I have done to viennefesh:

• Take a hike…literally…where I have to be quiet
• Drive, anywhere and listen to worship stuff
• Jog
• Devote daily…usually morning for me…involves Scripture and prayer. I hear journaling helps, but I have never been consistent with it. Although this is a form I guess.
• Withdraw weekly…I am a stickler for my day off. Since I work on Sunday, Friday is my day to be with my family. Sometimes it is hard to even find time on that day to withdraw, but it is worth it even for just a short while.
• Starbucks of course…sit and pray…sit and read and alway, always drink coffee.

Anyway, the point is that it is important to get a rhythm to it, but the content can be as fresh as you make it.

Happy sabbath.

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Viennefesh! – some reflection on my message

If you missed the message you can get the audio or notes here.

I’m guessing that most from Suncrest do not want to hear the word “viennefesh” one more time after Sunday, but I have to use it at least one more time. Not only do I like saying it, but it stresses an important principle for our life: We need to create space for God in our life. We need a rhythm in our life that allows us to connect with our Creator on a daily, weekly and even yearly basis. God is not always heard in the storm or in the rush of our life. That’s why we desperately need to STOP and listen.
There’s a great story in 1 Kings 18 and 19 about the prophet Elijah. It is one of my favorite stories in the Bible. In 18, Elijah challenges false prophets to prove their god is real. They don’t, but God does prove himself and Elijah is shown to be a true prophet. After this episode, his life is threatened and what does he do after this great victory? He runs for his life with his robe tucked between his legs. In 19, we read that he basically is so spent that he begs God to take his life. I think that he was so emotionally and physically drained from the events of chapter 18 that he thinks God has left him. After he is reassured by a visiting angel, he is told to travel on to Mount Horeb to meet God. He does so and this is what happens:

“Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:11-13)

God was not in the wind nor the earthquake nor the fire. Where was he? He was in the gentle whisper. Now my point is just this: sometimes, a lot of the time, we have to slow down long enough we can quiet down so we can hear God.

Tomorrow I want to recommend a book that helps in the practical realm of how to do this.

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Message Reflection #3 – Experiencing God’s Will

There’s nothing quite like talking God over a freshly ground cup of coffee. That in a sentence describes the community group I am a part of. Last night we talked about Lost, 24, life and discovering God’s Will. What a great combo! Just wait for the post on how we can see signs of God in Lost and 24. 🙂

Through life, I have always been impressed by people who constantly talk about something being God’s will. There have been many times when I wished I could have been as confident as some of them. “How can they be so sure,” I would ask. I have learned that they may not always have the confidence they appear to have, but they do have faith. And their statement, “This is God’s will for my life,” is more of a statement of faith than fact. That is, they have sought God’s direction and this seems to be the compass for their lives.

One resource that I have found extremely helpful in discovering God’s will is the book Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby. If you read nothing else this year, read this one. If you are wrestling with questions of God’s purpose for your life then this book will help. Here’s the gist:

Big Idea: God is at work in the world around us, always!

So God’s will is not like this: God is waiting around for us to get on board with His purpose for our lives, otherwise He can not do anything.

Rather, God is working around us and when we see Him at work THAT is our call to join Him. There are some things that help confirm whether or not we are seeing God at work and He is calling us:

• The Bible
• Prayer
• Circumstances
• The Church

All of these together both help us see God at work and they can confirm whether or not He is calling us.

So, if you are wresting with whether or not something is God’s direction for your life, view it through the lens of these 4 questions:
1. Does the Bible say it is wrong?
2. Am I hearing anything in prayer?
3. Do circumstances in my life seem to point in this direction?
4. Do the people in my church, community group, ministry team, that is the people who I am doing life with, agree that this is a “God direction.”

In the end, these questions can help but to follow Christ is always a step of faith. Everything may not be as crystal clear as you want it, but you can have a measure of confidence that will keep you moving in the right direction.

And yes, I was going for the longest post…

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Message Reflection #2 – Umbrella of God’s Will

One image of God’s Will that is helpful when talking about His general will is to view it as an umbrella. God’s general will which includes things like salvation, purity and even helping people know about Christ form an umbrella that we want to make sure and stay under. With this image the idea is that we have a great deal of freedom to live our lives as long as we stay under the umbrella. Essentially we can do anything we want as long as we are under the umbrella.

It is helpful to remember this image because some get too uptight and worried about making the wrong specific next step. “Maybe it wasn’t God’s will for me to eat at Applebee’s today?” I think that is ridiculous. God cares far more that we are in a relationship with Christ, we have an attitude towards obedience and are seeking to grow than where we are eating lunch. (This does presume that eating at Applebee’s is not against that person’s conscience which is an entirely different discussion for another day I want to put someone to sleep.)

So, to live under His umbrella we need stay consistent in His Word so we can make wise choices. If we don’t know what the edges of the umbrella are then we can’t really stay under it. The result if we don’t? We get all wet! Couldn’t resist.

Hopefully this is helpful for thinking about God’s general will. It doesn’t speak to his specific will which I do believe He does have for us, but certainly we need to understand and pursue His general will before we can get clarity on His specific will for our lives.

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If I don’t do it…

I have had some really great interaction about Sunday’s message. One aspect I wanted to comment on further was this thought we get that goes something like this: “If I don’t do it, it won’t get done.” I have seen this thought used as a guilt trip for motivating people to evangelize. “If you don’t tell your friend about Jesus, then they will never hear and will go to Hell.” Really? Does it really all depend on me? I certainly believe (and please hear me) that God desires to use us, but if I don’t join God in witnessing, He is going to use someone to reach that person with the message. In fact, anytime we help someone step across the line of faith, He has already used several people. We have just been one among many influences.

It is about God and what He can do, not about us.

We can see this specifically in 1 Corinthians 2:3-5 and 1 Corinthians 3:5-9.

It was God’s power….it’s always God’s power. He certainly wants us to respond to His call so we accomplish good works, but it is about God’s power.

So what does this all mean for us? I think it means this:

We can relax. Yes we want to be responsive to His call, but it doesn’t all hang on us. We can do our best to follow God’s call and trust that it all ultimately depends on God. The result is that we get to experience the joy and blessing that comes from fulfilling the call of God on our life without worrying that everything depends on us.

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